Salford Labour Party Website

Ian Stewart MP for Eccles has issued the following statement following the announcements regarding Hope Hospital Maternity Unit.

I have today received the decision of the NHS Independent Review Panel (IRP) which has confirmed the adoption of ‘Option A’ in the NHS ‘Making It Better’ (MIB) review of ‘Greater Manchester Maternity Services’. This decision has been endorsed today by the Secretary of State for Health.

The Chair of the Salford Royal Hospitals Trust Cllr Margaret Morris has said that this is “a bitter disappointment”. I agree with her as this means that Hope loses its excellent specialist clinician led maternity service. The IRP has suggested that the Hope Trust Board explores the possibility of having a stand-alone Midwife Led unit. This in my view will pose problems for the Hope Trust Board as we already have a Midwife Led Unit at Hope but this is currently side by side with the other Clinician led services such as the 24 hour medical obstetrics unit. If you remove the Clinician Led specialist services then the Trust Board will have to satisfy itself about the safety of having only a stand–alone Midwife Led Service.

I believe that this situation has, in part, been brought about by; the NHS North West Regions decision to block the setting up of a Paediatrics Unit at Hope in 1998, the failure of Salford Primary Care Trust to take a strong enough line at the beginning of the process and the Joint Greater Manchester PCTs flawed consultation process.

My personal view is that this can not currently be called ‘Making it better’ for the people of Salford. I will continue to work with the Hope Trust, the City Council, community and trade union support groups and others to get the best possible settlement for the people of Salford.

Ian Stewart MP

Eccles

Comments(4)

Barton Councillor John Mullen (Seen below with the residents and their children) hails the success of the Darwell Avenue residents who got together to bid successfully for Barton fair share monies. They have created a safe and secure area for children to play. They worked with the burglary reduction team to create an alley gate project that saw the transformation of a cobbled back alley into a gated, tarmacked area with a community Garden, hanging baskets and planters. The residents are pleased and proud of the achievement.

Councillor Mullen who is on the panel of the Trust spoke to the residents and commented ‘This is a great success that was down to the hard work of the residents and I am proud that I supported it.”

The project was officially opened by Labour MP Ian Stewart who is seen below cutting the ribbon.

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Having a Labour council IN Salford has brought many great things to this city.

The is just one such event.

The picture below show Labour councillor Patricia Ryan and Labour MP Barbara Keeley enjoying the event.

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